Two-way envelope



Sept. 6, 1966 DONOVAN 3,27%,948

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FIGI FIG. 2 i5 M. DONOVAN Sept. 6, 1966' TWO-WAY ENVELOPE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 14, 1965 FIG.

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Sept. 6, 1966 Filed May 14, 1965 M. DON OVAN TWO-WAY ENVELOPE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FROM! 5. W. PHARMACY $.W. PHARMACY 52 VAN NUYS VAN NUYS/ CAL.

CAL.

INVENTOR.

MARION DONOVAN JOHN P. CHANDLER HER ATTORNEY,

United States Patent 3,270,948 4 TWO-WAY ENVELOPE Marion Donovan, 435 E. 52nd St., New York, N.Y. Filed May 14, 1965, Ser. No. 455,879 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-73) The present invention is a two-way envelope which can be fabricated on conventional envelope making machines and which has first and second walls forming, respectively, a front wall on which the original recipients name is hand-written or otherwise imprinted in a generally central location, and an opposite or rear wall on which appears the senders name in a similar central location, each of the walls having flaps extending upwardly from the top edge or mouth of the envelope, the bottom and side edges being closed.

Both of said first and second walls may have the word From imprinted above the name and address appear ing thereon and both flaps have the Word To imprinted thereon. The depth of the flaps extending upwardly from the first and second walls is sufiicient to cover the word 'From on the opposite wall and it will be apparent from the foregoing that when the improved envelope is used for personal two-way correspondence as from A to B, and then from B back to A, or when it is used to send a monthly statement from a store to a charge customer and the flap extending from the first wall has previously been folded into the interior of the envelope, the second wall flap covers the word From inscribed on the first wall, the first wall also carrying in exposed position, the inscription of the name and address of the intended recipient, in this specific instance, the charge customer. The word To inscribed on the second wall fiap directs attention to the intended recipient and the name of the store on the rear second wall has the Word From inscribed thereon, and is uncovered and in plain view. The words T0 or From or similar words with the same meaning are imprinted on the first wall in such a position as to be uncovered and exposed when the flap of the second wall which contains the postage and cancellation date is ripped off. This arrangement may also be reversed wherein the word To is imprinted above the names of initial receiver and initial sender on the first and second walls, and the word From is imprinted on the flaps. The illustration of the invention in the drawing as a twoway envelope for billing purposes is not to be taken in any limiting service since the envelope can be used for any kind of two-way correspondence.

When the envelope is received and the second wall fiap is eliminated therefrom in accordance with instruc tions which may be contained thereon, the first wall flap, previously positioned in the interior of the envelope, is pulled out from the interior, a remittance together with the billhead inserted therein, and this first wall flap is now sealed over the original second wall having the stores name thereon.

Ifiwill be apparent from the foregoing that an object of the invention is to provide an improved envelope which will accelerate billing practices for retail stores, service organizations, and for professional billing and which will considerably reduce the amount of hand work required on the part of both senders, since the name of the first recipient or customer is the only special inscription required and in the case of business billing this can be readily done by a stencil and all the other printing can be done before the envelope is fabricated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel two-way envelope for store billing purposes wherein the envelope on its return journey has been folded in such a manner as to reduce its size. Stores sending bills to charge customers invariably enclose various mailing 3273348 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 "ice pieces of a promotional nature, all of which increases the weight and requires a larger envelope and more postage. When returned, the envelope contains only a remittance and the billhead and, in accordance with the present invention, an envelope of the same length but of lesser width is presented for this purpose.

Another object of the invention is to provide a twoway envelope for general correspondence and which facilitates and simplifies both the initial sending and preparation of the reply without requiring a second envelope for the purpose. Whether used for general correspondence or for billing purposes, a fast reply or return is assured since all the Work in preparing the envelope for return, except the actual sealing, has been done and the receiver is thus encouraged to make the reply.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the blank with the printing thereon forming the envelope of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the front of the envelope as it is initially sent and with the flap in unsealed condition;

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 and shows the fiap under sealed condition;

IFIG. 4 is a plan view of the opposite side of the envelope sealed and ready for its return journey to the initial sender;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation similar to FIG. '3 but showing a modification;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 but showing the back of the envelope when returned;

FIG. 7 shows a modification in the envelope of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 shows the back of this envelope when returned;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a blank in an arrangement 7 which is the revere of the blank shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the blank used in the modification where the return envelope is of lesser longitudinal dimension than the sending envelope;

FIG. 11 is a front elevation of the front of the envelope as it is initially sent and with the flap in unsealed condition;

FIG. 12 is similar to FIG. 11 and shows the flap in sealed condition;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the opposite side of the envelope before it is sealed; and

FIG. 14 shows the envelope sealed and ready for its return journey to the initial sender.

The two-way envelope of the present invention is formed from a single blank shown at 10 and having first and second opposed walls -11 and 12, which serve, respectively, as the front of the envelope when it is first sent to the charge customer by the store, and as the rear wall thereof, and longitudinal flaps 1-4 and 16 connected with walls 11 and 12, respectively. Wall 11 further has gumrned end flaps 18 which are turned inwardly and are adhered to the inner face of wall 12, thus completing the envelope. These end flaps are not disturbed during the life of the envelope, going and returning.

First wall 11 has typed or printed thereon the name and address of the charge customer, shown at 19, and wall 12 has imprinted thereon the name of the store sending out the material and shown at 20. Spaced above each of the names and addresses shown at 19 and 20, there is imprinted the word From. Also, each of flaps 14 and 16 have imprinted thereon the word To.

sealed, as shown in FIG. 3, it covers the word From on wall 11 and displays the word To just above the address of the customer shown at 19. On the opposite side of the envelope where wall 12 is outermost, there appears on the wvall the name of the store, shown at and above this name there appears the word From.

When the addressee receives the envelope containing a letter or a statement, she opens the envelope by the ordinary method of slitting the upper fold line 22 connecting fiap 16 with wall 12, and in addition, removes this flap 16 from the body of the envelope, thus also removing the canceled postage. The contents of the envelope are now removed and inner flap 14 is then withdrawn from the envelope interior. The customer inserts her check along with the billhead which has been severed from the main body of the statement, and then folds fiap 14 down over the front of wall 12 and seals this flap and afiixes a stamp 17. This flap now exposes the word To just above the name of the store and the now rear wall i.e., first wall) contains the printed matter shown on wall 11 in FIG. 2.

In the modified arrangement of FIG. 5, the envelope, addressed to the charge customer, as earlier shown in FIG. 3, is formed from a blank that is substantially similar to the blank of FIG. 1 but it has a flap 16' of greater depth and a perforated or otherwise weakened line 26 about midway between the upper and lower ends, thus dividing this flap into a lower section 28 on which the customers name is shown at 29, and an upper section which has inscribed thereon the word To.

With this embodiment, the customer uses a letter opener to sever flap 16 along the upper fold line 27 and then removes upper section 30 by severing along perforated line 26 and the customers name on flap section 28 remains on this wall 11' as shown in FIG, 6. When upper flap section 30 has been removed, as shown, it exposes the word From above lower flap section 28 with the original receivers name below the word From. On the return journey a flap 14' carried along the upper edge of wall 11', and disposed on the inside of the envelope on the initial journey, has now been withdrawn and is adhered over the opposite face so this face will have the identical appearance of the envelope of FIG. 4.

In FIG. 7, the first receivers name, shown at 31, appears on first or front wall 32 and flap 34 has a lower section 36 with adhesive on its back, joined with the upper section 34 along a perforated line 37. The word To appears on this upper section. Here again the first receiver opens the envelope by cutting along top fold line 38, which may also be perforated, and then removes the upper fiap section 34 by severing along per forated line 37 or simply ripping off by hand the portion between the two parallel lines 37 and 38. This exposes the word From along the upper portion of wall 32 which is the back wall on the return journey. The inner flap 39 similar in all respects with flap 14 of FIG. 4 and carried along the upper edge of wall 32, is removed from the interior of the envelope and is adhered over the opposite face, thus again presenting an appearance similar to FIG. 4. The rear of the envelope on its return journey is shown in FIG. 8 where the lower flap section 36 performs no function but does no harm. It will be noted that flap 34 has a deeper longitudinal dimension than flap 39 to allow for enough space for postage on the upper portion and a deep enough glue area behind section 36.

The blank 40 shown in FIG. 9 is just the reverse of that shown in FIG. 1 so far as the printing of the indicators for direction of travel are concerned. In other words, wherever To occurs in FIG. 9, From occurs in FIG. 1 and vice versa. Accordingly, when the letter is initially sent, the flaps 16" attached to second wall 4.. 12 is placed inside the envelope and the flap 14" is adhered to second wall 12" wherein the word From appearing on said flap 14" covers the word To on this second wall. Flaps 18 and 18" may be extensions of walls 11 and 11" or 12 and 12".

When this is received, the flap 14" is cut from the envelope by a letter opener and the entire flap removed from said first wall. The remaining fiaps 16" is now removed from the interior of the envelope and is adhered to first wall 11" wherein the word From covers the original postage and the word To above the name of the first receiver.

There is no illustration of a window envelope in connect-ion with the earlier forms of the invention but it will be apparent that a window construction may be employed, as it is in the next embodiment of the invention, wherein the reply envelope is of the same length but of lesser width than the original sending envelope.

The blank 44 is shown in FIG. 10 and it includes a first wall 46 which serves as the front of the envelope when it is first sent to the charge customer by the store. It has a window opening 48 within which the customers name and address printed on the enclosed bill appears. At the lower edge of first wall 46 there is a fold line 47 separating this wall from a second wall 49 serving as a rear wall initially. First wall 46 has a flap 52 defined by a fold line 54. It also has a second area 51 lying between fold line 54 and a fold 53 which is first formed when the envelope is to be sealed for its return journey. In other words, the first wall 46 is the area lying between fold line 47 and fold line 54 and on the return journey, as will be explained later, the wall is folded along fold line 53. The wall 49 has a fiap 56 defined by fold line 59 and this wall also has an additional fold line 60 for a purpose to be pointed out and there is also a rectangular section 64 lying between fold lines 59 and 60. from fold line 60 to fold line 47 is less than the depth of first wall 46 from fold line 54 to fold line 47. Wall 46 has gummed end flaps 61 which adhere to wall 49 and to section 64 which are turned inwardly and are adhered to the inner face of wall 49, thus completing the envelope. These end flaps are not disturbed during the life of the envelope, going and returning.

First wall 46 omits the name and address of the charge customer because of the window 48 but if the window structure is not desired, wall 46 will be similar to panel 11 of FIG. 1. The opposite wall 49 has imprinted thereon the name of the store sending out the material and shown at 62. Spaced above each of these areas shown at 48 and 62 there is imprinted the word From. Also, each of flap sections 52 and 56, which are gummed on their opposite faces at 66 and 65 in FIG. 11 and FIG. 13 have imprinted thereon the word To.

FIG. 11 shows the envelope just before it is sealed, when it is first sent out by the store to the charge customer. Flap 56 is in the upright position shown and flap 52 has been folded into the interior of the envelope. Thus, as seen in FIG. 12, when flap 56 is folded downwardly and is sealed, it covers the word From on wall 46 and displays the word To above the address of the customer within window 48. On the opposite side of the envelope in FIG. 13 where wall 49- is outermost, there appears the name of the store, shown at 62 and above this name there appears the Word From.

When the customer receives the letter, containing a bill and any other mailing material such as promotional leaflets, she opens the envelope such as by the use of a. letter opener along the fold line 59 in FIG. 11 physically removing this flap 56 along with canceled postage contained thereon, from the envelope. The contents of the envelope are now removed and inner flap 52 is then withdrawn from the envelope interior. The customer inserts her check along with the billhead and flap sections 52 and It will also be noted that the depth of panel 49 51 are now folded over front wall 49 an flap 52 is moistened and sealed as in FIG. 14. This flap now has the word To above the name of the store and the finished envelope has the lesser depth than the original, thus keeping insertions in place .and customers name on enclosed billhead within visible window area.

While there have been described herein what are at present considered preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that the exemplary embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims, and that all modifications that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claim are intended to be included therein.

What I claim is:

A two-way envelope including first and second opposed walls forming front and rear walls when first sent, and having areas for imprinting thereon, respectively, a first receivers name and a senders name, each wall having imprinted thereon above said name, a word, flaps permanently closing the opposed end of the envelope, and gummed flaps extending upwardly from each of said walls and having a word imprinted thereon, each of said flaps being of sufficient depth to cover the word on the first and second walls when adhered downwardly thereon, one of the gummed flaps remaining unadhered on its first journey to the receiver while the other gummed flap is adhered over the wall carrying said unadhered flap and concealing the word printed thereon, said latter flap being removable when received by the first receiver, and the other wall flap when adhered over the opposite wall concealing the word thereon and converting the envelope to one addressed to the original sender.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,373,512 4/1921 Kuhh'orn 29973 3,096,925 7/ 1963 Hiersteiner 229-73 3,111,257 11/1963 Peach 22973 FOREIGN PATENTS 128,074 6/1919 Great Britain. 163,901 6/1921 Great Britain.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE O. RALSTON, Examiner. D. M. BOCKENEK, Assistant Examiner. 

